Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a control system for monitoring a work train for performing track maintenance operations. The work train is mobile on a track.
Our commonly assigned Austrian utility model AT 5703 U (Gebrauchsmuster) describes a work train formed of several storage wagons, which is configured for transporting bulk material from one end of the work train all the way through to the other end and finally storing it for removal. In this manner, in a continuous working operation, for example for cleaning a ballast bed of a track, the storage wagons are successively filled and finally transported away together in order to be emptied. A control system in the shape of a contactlessly operating distance measuring device is associated with each storage wagon, respectively, for continuously monitoring the filling state of the wagon. By means of the distance measuring device, the height of a dump cone of bulk material inside the wagon is measured, and the storage operation is controlled automatically in accordance therewith.